Christina J.

Grace Banker and Her Impact on Women’s Roles in the United States Army

The title of many books, novels, and even an Off-Broadway musical, the Hello Girls were pivotal not only in the efforts of the Allied forces in World War I but also in the greater fight for women’s rights and integration in fields otherwise dominated by men. Spearheading this charge was none other than Grace Derby Banker, a highly educated Barnard College graduate (Cobbs 7). Over the course of her 20 months overseas serving the US Army in France, she and her Hello Girls connected some 150,000 calls a day at the height of the war. (William L. Clements Library, Brewer) Her stellar work and success in the army and the following fight for veteran recognition opened doors to the future integration of women in the military.

Born on October 25, 1892 in Passaic, New Jersey to William and Edith Banker, Grace had at least one sister and one brother, Eugene Banker, who was fighting in Europe when she answered the call herself. (Pilat, William L. Clements Library) Banker graduated from Barnard College undergrad with a double major in French and history, a fitting look into her future line of work. (Pilat) After graduating Barnard in 1915, she took up a job at AT&T as a telephone switchboard operator. She had great success in her position and was one of the few and first women to hold a supervisory position. (William L. Clements Library) Her career reached headway in November of 1917 when the U.S. Army Signal Corps published a need for competent women telephone operators fluent in French to serve in Europe in World War I. The Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, General John Pershing, requested women operators in France after it was apparent the Doughboys, the current operators of the telephones, were not nearly as competent as necessary. (Timbie) It took an average of 60 seconds for the Doughboys to connect a call, which in a high-stakes situation such as war when calls could be the difference between life and death, was simply not sufficient. It took most women only ten seconds to do the same thing. (Pilat) Banker volunteered, was chosen, and accepted the position of leading the first unit of telephone operators. (William L. Clements Library) Eventually, the US Army Signal Corps would send 223 female telephone operators to France. (Timbie) These women later became known as the Hello Girls.

Just 25 years old, Grace Banker’s journey began by sailing to General Pershing’s headquarters in Chaumont on March 7th, 1918. (Pilat) This was a formidable moment in her life, as she wrote in her diary on that day. As she watched the Statue of Liberty sail away, she thought about how it was the first time she realized “what a responsibility I have on my young shoulders.” (Pilat) She led a core group of 33 operators, who she endearingly called “her girls” in several diary entries. (Cobbs, Brewer, Timbie) After serving 5 months in Chaumont, France, she was relocated to the First Army headquarters at Ligny-en-Barrois to support the Allied assault on St. Mihiel, which was German-controlled at that time. This is when her core group of 33 turned into 6. (William L. Clements Library)

In reality, this was never supposed to happen. The United States Army had not intended the operators to be as close to the front lines as the First Army headquarters. However, because they showed great efficiency, speed, bravery under fire, and devotion to the army, supervisors gave them roles outside of the routine ones they were expected to take. (Frahm) Here, in Ligny-en-Barrois, Banker and the 6 women worked around the clock under the sound of cannon booms, their gas masks and helmets slung on the backs of their chairs as they were in the range of German artillery. (Pilat) It was here that Banker wrote about her experience and some of the specific difficulties their work entailed:

“The work was fascinating; much of it was in codes changed frequently. ‘Ligny’ was ‘waterfall.’ ‘Toul’ might be ‘Podunk’ one day and ‘Wabash’ the next. Once in a mad rush of work, I heard one of the girls say desperately, can’t I get ‘Uncle’ and another no I didn’t get ‘Jam.’” (The National World War I Museum and Memorial)

She would also later write that they had “never spent more time at the office and never enjoyed anything more” and that her “girls worked like beavers.” While their work was tireless, waking up at 2:15 AM every morning for a quick breakfast before reporting to their posts, Grace and her girls would never complain. (Pilat) Grace would write “If you were to ask every girl in my party about her hardships, I know she would answer that she had none worth mentioning… and that her work overseas helped her in every way and made her a bigger person than she was before.” (Pilat)

A month later, Grace and the six women were transferred to Bar-Le-Duc, where they played a pivotal role in the communications for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. (William L. Clements Library) When the Armistice, signed November 11th, 1918 brought an end to the fighting of World War I, Banker returned to Paris to work in President Wilson’s temporary residence. (William L. Clements Library) She soon found she did not like it and transferred to the Army of Occupation at Colbenz, Germany. (William L. Clements Library) On May 22, 1919, while she was serving there, she became one of eighteen women to receive the Distinguished Service Medal, given to those who showed “exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility in connection with the operations against an armed enemy of the United States,” a very high and decorated achievement. (Frahm) Finally, in September of 1919, Banker received an official discharge and returned to the United States. She had spent 20 months overseas, leading telephone operations and loyally serving the United States Army. (William L. Clements Library)

In 1922, she married Eugene H. Paddock and had four children with him. In 1924, she moved with her family to Scarsdale, New York, where she eventually died at 68 years of age on December 17, 1960 from cancer. (Pilat)

Although her fighting in World War I ended on the day of the Armistice, the Hello Girls continued to fight for veteran status and benefits for the next sixty years. Banker herself was rather silent on the issue, though dozens of Hello Girls took up the cause, petitioning and protesting for their rights to Congress for the next 6 decades. (Pilat) At least 20 or so bills that would’ve granted the Hello Girls veteran status were rejected in just Banker’s lifetime. (Brewer) It took over 50 bills to be rejected by Congress for one to finally pass in 1977. (William L. Clements Library) Even so, it took another 2 years for this provision of the G.I. Bill Improvement Act of 1977 to actually be implemented. (William L. Clements Library) However, this provision was not perfect nor representative of the Hello Girls’ impact, as it granted them veteran status for the recognition on their headstones but no healthcare or back pay benefits. (The National World War I Museum and Memorial) Only eighteen of the 223 Hello Girls were alive to see the day. Grace Banker was not one of them. (William L. Clements Library)

A bright and heavily valued woman, Grace Banker was described as someone with a “strong sense of purpose, an extraordinary stock of energy, a sensible personality, and an open smile.” (Cobbs, 85) While she was not alive nor a big part in the ensuing movement for recognition of her rights, the impact and the role she played in her loyalty and service, as well as her caring and motherly nature toward the girls she worked the closest with, highlights the impact she made on both the country, the people she was close to, and the United States Army. While she was not alive to see the day she finally received veteran status, her bravery and excellence paved the way for increased participation of women in World War II and stretched the boundaries for acceptable roles in wartime for women. (Frahm)

Works Cited

Brewer, Delaney. “Biographies: Grace Banker Paddock.” National Museum of the United States Army, 2000.

Clemens, William. “Grace D. Banker Collection, 1918 - University of Michigan William L. Clements Library - University of Michigan Finding Aids.” Findingaids.lib.umich.edu, 2017.

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman. The Hello Girls : America’s First Women Soldiers. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2019.

Frahm, Jill. Women Telephone Operators in World War I France. July 2004.

“Grace Banker.” National WWI Museum and Memorial.

Pilat, Kasia. “Overlooked No More: Grace Banker, Whose “Hello Girls” Decoded Calls in World War I.” The New York Times, 15 May 2019.

Timbie, Carolyn. “100 Years Ago “Hello Girl” Grace Banker Receives Distinguished Service Medal - World War I Centennial.” U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, 2013.

This work is 100% mine and mine alone. Nobody helped nor wrote any part of it for me and all sources are cited.